Answer to Question #92203 in Organic Chemistry for lauren

Question

explain how IR Spectroscopy can differentiate/distinguish between 1-butanol & diethyl ether

Answer 1

To identify functional groups in IR spectroscopy we should focus on the region between 3600 -1500 and ignore fingerprint region (less than 1500)

1) Butanol-1

OH group gives strong broad signal in the region 3400-3700

All carbon atoms in butanol-1 as is sp3 hybridization , they will give medium to strong peak 1850-1975

2) Diethyl ether

• there are the usual sp3 C-H stretching at 2900
• there is a strong peak near 1000 cm-1. This peak is due to the C-O stretching vibration.

Ethers are characterized by a central oxygen atom with two carbons attached.Because ethers do not contain an -OH bond there is no significant hydrogen bonding and there are no -OH stretching or bending peaks. In fact, the only useful group wavenumbers for ethers are their C-O stretching peaks.

Although there are many peaks in the spectrum of diethyl ether, the only one that is diagnostic for it being an ether is the C-O-C asymmetric stretch labeled A at 1122. For saturated ethers, generally this peak falls at between 1140 and 1070.